Yes, ok, have your gigglesnort now. If you don't know enough about it to have a gigglesnort, well, the main character is a magically-transforming duck/girl-turned-ballet-superheroine trying to restore her prince's shattered heart. Now you can gigglesnort.

But I really enjoyed this anime--it's so shoujo you can practically see waves of pink billowing from the screen when you watch it, but it also pings a lot of things that I love but tend to be picky about. It's well researched and plotted and incorporates the ballet stuff well and mainly gets it right. The music--scores taken from almost every ballet possible, and I'm pretty sure there's some opera in there as well--is integrated beautifully with the action. All four of the main characters have interesting storylines, and none of them are allowed to dwindle off to one side in the end; they all have something important to contribute. There are layers of darkness and grimness to the story that you don't initially expect, and while the ending isn't exactly a twist--well, it's not your textbook shoujo romance ending either. The art is consistently of high quality, it's well-directed, even the dub seems pretty decent, they went all-out with the extras, it reminds me of Fruits Basket and Revolutionary Girl Utena and Kingdom Hearts all at once...

To keep the paragraph from doubling in length, let's just say I've fallen a little bit in love with the series. And no one else I know has heard of it.

Naturally, I intend to rectify that situation as soon as possible. But I'm wondering whether anyone else has been in a similar situation--you've found a gem of an anime, and no one else seems to know it exists. What was it? What did you love about it? How did you find it? Who would you recommend it to, and why? And especially, where can we get it, and how much does it cost?

Pimp your obscure anime!

rightclickscott

This seems to be more well known, but still, it's hard to find people who watch Desert Punk. It's just one of the few shows that I think is worth watching dubbed, and it's action packed, yet still constantly comical content will keep you wanting more. I highly reccommend this show if you haven't already seen it.

exarkun

I must try princess tutu one of these days.. it looked funny after seeing its review on different website.

PS: I have seen Desert Punk before too. And that was too good an anime to miss. Kinda like a lecher show. =p

Chalchihuitlicue

The only anime I've been watching that I'd consider "obscure" are Les Miserables (there is an anime of it - and it's terrible beyond words, yet I watch it anyway...), and one that I think is called Tokyo Majin Gakuen Kenpucho. The Tokyo Majin one is definitely worth watching - it's amazingly animated, and the story's pretty interesting so far. It sounds kind of cliche (a bunch of high-schoolers with magical-ish abilities fighting zombie kind of monters), but it's really well done, in my opinion.

Qube

Haha, don't worry, someone actually recommended Princess Tutu to me when I first started watching anime.
Of course I haven't been able to find it, so it's on my list, but ya.
I haven't seen Desert Punk though.
Maybe I'll see if I can pick it up.

I was interested in this 1 show, Kodomo no Omocha (Kodocha/Child's Toy for short) has been insanely hard to find for me.
Sure I can buy the DVD's, but I'd actually like to watch an episode before I spend $100+ on the box sets.
Yes, I know it's being aired by FUNimation, but c'mon now, I bet most of you agree that dubs are usually lacking when compared to the JP voice actors.

Oh, and if any of you have any news on this 1 show, Gakuen Utopia Manabi Straight!, I'd really love to hear.
From what I can gather, it just finished airing last month (the TV series) in Japan.
Bleh, I know I'm addicted, I can't help it.

Seiji

Rizelmine was pretty bizarre. Its about a 12 year old boy and his 10 year old girlfriend. It was actually really good then. Its one of those series that you will always remember. I remember that the ending was one of the best ending every. Only terrible thing about Rozen Maiden was that it was split into two seasons. I wish they would have grouped it all together instead of splitting it.

Scaramanga

Seiji wrote:

Rozen Maiden was pretty bizarre. Its about a 12 year old boy and his 10 year old girlfriend.

Wait what? Are you sure you mean Rozen Maiden? Because Jun doesn't have a girlfriend per se in the show. Shinku is a DOLL. Also I wouldn't call a show that has two seasons and has been licensed for distribution as obscure really.

OK, some obscure shows (I'll try to stick with more recent shows):
Air Master (2003) - A gritty but fan-service laden fighting show by Toei. A lot of people disliked the animation quality, but failed to realize it was poking fun at stereotypical shonen fighting shows.

Aishiteruze Baby (2004) - Probably one of the most interesting and heart-warming shows I've seen in the past 5 years or more. Kippei is the school playboy, who suddenly has to take care of his 5-year old niece. Best thing is they actually got 10-year old Miyu Tsuzurahara to voice the young niece (sure she's not 5, but it's better than some 20-something idol playing the part in a high-pitched squeaky voice.)

Battle Programmer Shirase (2003) - This is a fairly unique show in that not only was it only 5 2-part episodes of 12-minutes each, but it dealt strictly with computers and hacking (and loli fetish to a smaller, but no less disturbing degree.) Still, an excellent, if short, show.

Futakoi/Futakoi Alternate (2004) - The first show is pretty generic romance stuff, about a town where a large number of twins are born (yeah, girl twins - the title literally means "twins love".) The second show, Alternate is a completely different story only having certain twin character designs in common with the first series, but is FAR more entertaining IMO. The Alternate show also features a much wider variety of genres, including romance, sci-fi and comedy. It's not necessary to watch the first Futakoi to appreciate the Alternate version, but it helps to understand hwo much better it is.

Highest Level Student Council/Gokujo Seitokai (2005) - A fairly strange show that mixes the shoujo-ai sensibilities of Maria-sama ga Miteru with the comedy of shows like Azumanga and FUMOFFU?! with some more mysterious overtones later in the show. Basically the story revolves around Rino who carries around Pucchan, a hand-puppet that is pretty autonomous and her attending Miyagami Gakuen, a mysterious all-girls high school, with a student council that has an 'Assault Squad' and a 'Covert Squad'.

Highest/Best Student Council is a trip. Anime Network on Demand is currently airing the first episode, though that puppet...thing...freaked me out.

Seiji

I made a mistake, I mean Rizelmine I must have had Rozen Maiden on my mind for some reason.

Scaramanga

Seiji wrote:

I made a mistake, I mean Rizelmine I must have had Rozen Maiden on my mind for some reason.

Ahhh, in which case I'll second that recommendation, as Rizelmine is a pretty funny show (although it CAN get pretty tedious at times.) Although Rizel isn't actually 10, and that's explained further in the second season, IIRC.

And Penny, I try to stay away from /b/, since I value my sanity.

blk3

Anyone watched FCLC or Excel Saga. Try it. FCLC is just plain weird and Excel Saga is a comedy/parody of all anime genres.

urbanbuddha

prolly the most obscure anime I've seen is Alien 9, which is a pretty old one.

I also found that Ray the Animation was obscure but I didn't like it at all.

NHK ni Youkoso! (Welcome to the NHK!) is probably the most recent obscure anime that I have watched and actually liked.

Its about a hermit (hikkimori), a person who stays inside all day without a job, training or any education and how society deals with these types of people. Its not your typical story of how one would remove him/herself from this lifestyle.

Obake

:O I disappeared for a couple of weeks doing life-stuff, and assumed this little Obscure Anime topic had drifted into obscurity itself, seeing as how my inbox was not inundated with 'thread has updated' alerts.

I guess that's what you get for ignoring Frihost too long. >>;

rightclickscott--I recall Madman (Australian anime distribution company) was promoting Desert Punk pretty hard at cons last year--I think it was one of those shows that they expected middling-to-good sales with (as opposed to the needs-no-mention, money-in-the-bank stuff like DBZ, Naruto, Bleach, etc. I caught an episode, in the dub, and fairly enjoyed it, but it struck me as the kind of show that I'd happily sit and watch a few eps with some friends, but wouldn't necessarily want to buy for/watch by myself.

exarkun--do try Princess Tutu. If you don't get it by the third or fourth episode, you probably won't get it at all, but yes. It's silly and wonderful. My new shiny.

Qube, have you tried looking for AMVs of Kodocha? It's not the same as getting to watch a full episode, I know, but they can be useful for getting an idea of the style of the thing. There are a couple of good Kodocha ones I can point you to if you want. (Can't really help with Manabi Straight, though, sorry.)

Scaramanga--I've seen Aishiteruze Baby manga around but really had no idea what it was about--thank for enlightening me. ^^; The other shows you mentioned all sound interesting--I've heard a little about Futakoi Alternate already, but I'll definitely have to keep a lookout for Battle Programmer Shirase and Gokujo Seitokai.